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Would have repealed restrictions on personal watercraft (jet skis) enacted by the Legislature in 1998. It would have eliminated the process which allows municipalities to seek regulations on personal watercraft, and would have opened up 242 lakes and ponds within Maine’s unorganized territories to use by jet skis.
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Would have seriously undermined efforts to protect the environment and public health by requiring state and local governments to compensate landowners if regulations reduced property values by more than 50 percent.
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Was completely revised by the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee. The final version authorizes the Bureau of Parks and Lands (BPL) to establish Maine’s first “ecological reserves on public lands to protect representative examples of Maine’s ecosystem types.” Timber harvesting, commercial mining, and excavation of sand and gravel are prohibited Continue...
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Would have severely limited efforts to protect land in Maine by prohibiting the State from owning more than 7% of the total land area of Maine or 10% of the land area of any county. Maine currently has one of the lowest levels of public land in the nation (less than 6%).
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Would have prohibited the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) from imposing a fine on first-time violators of environmental rules within the unorganized territories of Maine. By giving businesses and others permission to violate environmental regulations and get away with it, the bill would have seriously weakened enforcement of environmental regulations Continue...
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Would have provided the public with expanded information regarding forestry practices. The Maine Forest Service would have been required to publicly release statistics on how many acres of forest are annually clearcut, treated with herbicides, turned into tree plantations, and converted to non-forest uses by paper companies and landowners owning Continue...
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Will help curb mercury pollution in Maine by requiring recycling of mercury-containing products such as fluorescent bulbs, thermostats, and electrical switches. As amended by the Natural Resources Committee, disposal by businesses of products containing mercury will be banned after July 15, 2002, and by households as of January 2005.
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Would have required the Maine Forest Service (MFS) to develop recommendations to address liquidation (“cut and run”) logging and other unsustainable forestry practices. The MFS already has documented that liquidation logging is a serious problem in Maine, affecting as many as 47,000 acres annually.
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Authorized sending a $50 million bond measure to Maine voters to help fund the acquisition of public land through the Land for Maine’s Future program. The bill required matching funds of $25 million from private or other public sources.
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Would have suspended for three months certain public subsidies to businesses that were not in compliance with Maine’s environmental laws. Corporate subsidies, such as the Business Equipment Tax Reimbursement (BETR) program, would be reinstated once the company was certified as being back in compliance.
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Would have increased threats to Maine’s wild Atlantic salmon, which currently is under review for listing as an endangered species under the Federal Endangered Species Act. The bill would have allowed a catch and release season for Atlantic salmon on so-called “restoration” rivers (the Penobscot, St. Croix and Saco), despite Continue...
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Will help control sprawl by encouraging state investment in downtowns, by providing $1.7 million to the State Planning Office to assist cities and towns with local planning efforts, and by providing $100,000 to revitalize downtown areas. In addition, the Department of Education is required to adopt rules for the siting Continue...
